Brooks Newmark (Braintree, Conservative)

It is a delight to see you in the Chair, Mr. Bercow.

I was in full flow at the end of this morning’s sitting, but I shall get to what I was hoping to ask the Minister. I was surprised at a point that she made in response to my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Norfolk. She suggested that it would be best to have a consultation after the Bill has come to the House. I am curious about that practice. I appreciate that I am a fairly new boy, but would it not be better to have a consultation, as my hon. Friend suggested, prior to the Bill coming to the House, rather than afterwards?

Vera Baird (Redcar, Labour)

I, too, am delighted to see you in the Chair, Mr. Bercow; it is wonderful to serve under your chairmanship again. I mentioned the previous Bill this morning, but we shall not compete with 925 clauses.

The hon. Member for Braintree asks a germane question. However, there has been a sizeable amount of consultation and it is still ongoing. It has given us the confidence to introduce the Bill into the Lords, which, again, has done a good job of refinement and already ensured that interest groups fed into the process. We believe that we are fully informed and that we can put forward a sufficient framework to get the new structure on the move. Thereafter, there will be a huge amount of detail that will require yet further consultation. That is the process that we have adopted; I hope that that reassures the hon. Gentleman.